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  The cool air hits her nipples, causing them to tighten even more. The fingers I’m using to stroke inside her lift up, causing her back to arch off the bed, raising her breasts closer to my mouth. I blow a warm puff of air over her nipple before laving it with my tongue and blowing another breath across it. Then I pull it deep into my mouth.

  Her whimper and her nails digging into my hair egg me on. Once I have given both breasts the same treatment, I kiss down her stomach, licking around her belly button before lowering myself and lifting one of her legs up and over my shoulder, spreading her out in front of me. I sit back, watching my fingers enter her in smooth strokes, then start fucking her harder with them before lowering my face to lick right up her center. I pull her sweet, pure taste into my mouth and circle her clit with my tongue before sucking it into my mouth and flicking it.

  The heel of her foot digs into my shoulder, her pussy clamps down on my fingers, and her screams fill the room right before her body goes completely limp and silence fills the air. After I feel her body fully relax and know that her orgasm has passed, I slowly pull my fingers out then place them into my mouth, savoring her taste as I kiss my way back up her body. Once I reach her face, I kiss her once, seeing that her eyes are closed. They slowly flutter open, and a small smile forms on her mouth.

  “Sleep, Angel,” I tell her as I fix her shirt and adjust her in the bed.

  I cover her up before pulling off my own shirt while heading to the bathroom, where I’m extra careful about removing my pants. I’m still so hard that it’s almost painful. I make quick work in the shower and dry off hastily. I don’t even bother with clothes before crawling into bed with Chloe and pulling her against my chest. Then I fall asleep.

  *

  “I should go to work,” Chloe says.

  I lift my head from the papers I’ve been going over for a case so I can glare at her. She has been repeating the same thing for the last three days. I do not know how many times I need to tell her that it’s not happening before she’ll get it. Hell, she will be lucky to go back to work at all.

  “We’ve spoken about this.”

  “You’ve spoken about this.” She rolls her eyes before standing from the table and heading for the kitchen. “I need to work. I need to make money so I can pay my bills,” she says, and anger instantly ignites in my stomach.

  “I have plenty of money.”

  “I know, but that’s your money.”

  “I will take care of you.”

  “Nolan, I love you, but I was never looking for a sugar daddy,” she cries, throwing her hands up in the air.

  “Chloe, watch it,” I snarl. “You’re really testing my patience,” I say, tossing the papers in my hands down onto the table before standing from the chair, hearing it hit the wall behind me.

  “Nolan.” She swallows.

  “I’m the one who got a phone call from halfway across the world telling me the woman I love had been drugged. I’m the one that happened to, so you do not get to make this seem like I’m trying to keep you here for my own satisfaction. I’m keeping you here because it’s safe,” I rumble, leaning my head back in frustration.

  She has become more and more defiant, and the way I would normally get her to submit cannot occur at this time—not until I know she is completely okay.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispers. My head lowers and our eyes meet. “I just need to get out of the house. I mean, you didn’t even tell me you were moving me in with you. Yesterday, all my stuff just showed up here.”

  Okay, so I may have gone a little bit overboard, but given the circumstances, I was tired of waiting, and now, I fully believe that the only place she is safe is with me. So that is where she will be from now on. And no, I do not want to be her sugar daddy, but the job has to go. If I need to travel for business, she is going to come with me. I will no longer be able to leave her while I’m out of town.

  “I need to know you’re safe.”

  “Before meeting you, nothing like this has ever happened to me,” she whispers as her head lowers and her hands wring together.

  Her words feel like a steel pipe going right through my gut. I hate the idea of being the one who has caused her to be harmed. I’ve only ever wanted to take care of her.

  “Come here, Beautiful,” I sigh while opening my arms, and she walks to me, shoving her face into my chest as her arms wrap around me tightly. “I should have spoken to you about moving your stuff in, but I knew you would try to tell me, again, that it’s too soon. I removed the choice from your hands and did what needed to be done.”

  Her head tilts back, and I gather some of her hair at the back of her head into my hand, making a fist. I then lower my mouth to hers, slipping my tongue between her lips, calling hers to come out and play. When she moans and her body rises higher, I pull away, placing one more gentle kiss on her lips before pulling her head back into my chest.

  “What would you like to do today?” I ask after a moment of standing in silence.

  Her head tilts back again and her face lights up. “I’ve never been to the Museum of Natural History.”

  Internally, I groan, knowing that the place is likely overrun with children right now. But if my angel wants to go to the museum, then I suppose that is what we’re going to do.

  “All right. Go get ready while I finish up some work. We’ll leave in an hour.”

  “Really?” She smiles bigger, and my mouth lowers again, kissing that one off her lips.

  “Really,” I reply against her mouth before pulling away and turning her towards the stairs, where I watch until she disappears out of sight.

  “There are a lot of kids here,” Chloe says as we make our way through the dinosaur exhibits.

  “Most of the schools in the five boroughs bring the kids to this museum during the week, and then you have all the nannies who bring the kids here during the day. Or moms who just want something to do with their rug rats show up here as well,” I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders so I can lead us though the crowd.

  “I had no idea,” she mutters.

  “When I was growing up, I only liked coming here for one reason.” I lead her past some of the exhibits, heading towards my favorite spot in the building.

  “Holy cow,” she breathes, looking up at the giant blue whale that takes up a huge expanse of the museum.

  “I used to lie on the ground under it for hours,” I tell her, looking around.

  The area the whale is kept is dark and the floor is empty, making it the perfect spot to get away from all the noise inside the museum. I lead her towards the middle of the floor and watch as she looks around the room. There are kids everywhere along with adults who are looking at the displays tucked into the walls.

  “Come on.” She pulls my hand, beginning to sit on the floor.

  I frown down at her. “What are you doing?”

  “Come on, old man. I need the full experience.” She laughs, sitting down completely before lying on the floor.

  I shake my head but follow her down, resting my head near hers. She moves my arm and lays her head on my chest.

  “This is so cool,” she whispers.

  I squeeze her shoulder. I forgot how much I enjoyed doing this when I was young.

  “This is where I had my first kiss,” I say, kissing her forehead.

  “Was she your girlfriend?” Her cheek moves against my chest, and I know she’s smiling.

  “I was six. I thought she was my girlfriend, so when we came for a field trip, I kissed her when we got to this part of the museum.”

  “What did she do?” She giggles, making me smile.

  “She hit me then ran off and told the teacher.”

  “Your poor ego.” She tilts her head back, and the soft look in her eyes makes me realize that this is the spot I will ask her to marry me once the ring I’m having made for her is complete.

  “I survived,” I mutter, pulling her face up towards mine.

  She instantly rises up on her elbow and
lowers her mouth down to mine, nibbling my bottom lip before licking it. My hand moves to hold her face to take over the kiss, but we’re suddenly interrupted.

  “Dere kissin’!” a kid yells, and a bunch of giggles break out around us.

  Both Chloe’s face and mine turn at the same time to see that there is a group of kids who are all wearing matching shirts and look to be around five standing around us and laughing.

  “Oh my God,” Chloe whispers and hides her face in my chest.

  I lay my head back down, break out into laughter, and can feel Chloe shaking from doing the same.

  “I think we need to get up,” I tell her, sitting up and seeing that the children have moved on.

  We spend the next few hours walking around the museum, checking out different displays before heading out of the building. Once on the street, I signal to Ricket as we walk towards the park.

  “This is nice,” Chloe mutters.

  I look down at her as she takes a bite of the pretzel I just bought her. I forget sometimes to step back from work to just enjoy the little moments.

  “It has been nice,” I agree, bending my head to take a bite of her pretzel, making her laugh.

  By the time we arrive back at my penthouse, it is dark. There is a chill in the air, and Chloe is shivering. She insisted we walk instead of taking the car, so I sent Ricket ahead of us, telling him that he could have the night off. That’s why I’m surprised to find him waiting in the lobby of the building along with Bernard.

  “Sir,” Ricket says when he spots me.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask, rubbing Chloe’s arm, trying to warm her up. We both dressed light to go out, and now, I wish I would have brought a jacket or demanded we take the car home.

  “Evening,” Bernard says to Chloe before moving his eyes to mine. “We need to meet.”

  I nod. “Let me get Chloe upstairs and warmed up, and then we can talk,” I tell him, watching as he lifts his chin and follows us to the elevator.

  Once I have Chloe in the bath, I make my way out to the living room, where Bernard and Ricket are both speaking quietly.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” I say, pouring a glass of scotch.

  “I have gone over the videos from the club again from the night Chloe was drugged and still have not found even one moment when she could have been slipped the drug. Throughout the evening, she was never away from the other women at the event, she never went to the bar alone, and the party she was with had pitchers of drinks brought to them, and none of the other women ever showed any signs of having been given the same thing as Chloe.”

  “The drug was in her system, and I know she has never taken sleeping medication, so at some point during that party, she was given the drug,” I growl.

  “I agree,” Bernard says then looks at Ricket. “What I’m thinking is one of the women at the party slipped it into her drink. They are the only ones who would have had the opportunity to do so. My men were watching her the entire evening, and at no point was anyone who wasn’t part of the bachelorette party even within sneezing distance of her.”

  “So you believe one of the women she was with drugged her?” I shake my head. “That makes no sense at all.”

  “I don’t know why someone did it, but women from the party are the only ones who would have had the opportunity to do so.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” I look in the direction of the bathroom, not wanting Chloe to come out during this talk. I don’t want her to even know there is something going on or what they suspect. I don’t know how she would react if she knew they believe that her friends had something to do with her being drugged.

  “Right now, I’m gathering all the information I can on the women who attended the party. So far, they are all coming up as a bunch of well-to-do trophy wives, and I cannot find any link that would lead me to believe they would hold a grudge against her.”

  “Chloe is innocent. I believe whatever’s going on here has more to do with me than her.”

  “You think someone is using her to get to you?” Bernard replies, and I nod. “That would make sense. I have been going the ex-boyfriend route, but even he has been a dead end.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He went home. He hasn’t even tried to contact her.”

  “So why did he show up here?”

  “I have my guy looking into his phone records. I want to find out how he knew Chloe was in the hospital. Someone had to have contacted him to give him that information.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “Sir, if I may,” Ricket speaks, and I turn to look at my old friend. “You’re very possessive of Ms. Kasters. Perhaps whomever did this believed you would do something rash.”

  “Like what?”

  “Perhaps leave, sir,” Ricket says.

  Memories of my marriage come back to me. I never even asked my ex if she was having an affair—not that I needed to. But even if all of the evidence hadn’t been right there in front of me, I still wouldn’t have given her a chance to explain.

  I have never been the most understanding person. Chloe hasn’t been in my life for long, so if someone were trying to make me believe she was playing me, was having a relationship with someone else, and didn’t understand the depth of emotions I feel for her, they may have thought they could make me believe them.

  What they don’t know is I’m obsessed with her, and there is nothing anyone can do, including her, that would deter me from keeping her.

  “How long will it take to get the phone records?”

  “It will take a few days. Phone records are a little more difficult.”

  “Let me know what you find out as soon as you have the information.”

  “You know I will,” Bernard answers, patting my arm before heading towards the front door.

  “Would you like me to do anything, sir?” Ricket inquires.

  “No. Just have a good night. Tomorrow, I will need to go into the office for a few hours. I’ll call when I’m ready to leave,” I tell him, and he nods once before heading towards the front door.

  Once I know they are gone, I head towards the bedroom to check on Chloe. There is a lot to think about, but I know that my men will be able to handle it.

  Chapter 4

  ‡

  “Nolan!” Chloe yells, and I lean my head back to look at the ceiling before letting out a long breath.

  She has been on a rampage since coming home a few hours ago, and I’m ready to spank her ass. This morning, I told her not to go to work, and I believed she agreed with me and was going to stay home. But it seems my beautiful girl has become hard of hearing, because an hour after I arrived at my office, I received a phone call from Bernard informing me that Chloe had been spotted leaving the building by one of his men, who had then proceeded to follow her, making sure she arrived at the bakery safely before posting up outside until I could meet him there.

  As soon as I received this information, I ended my meeting early and met Ricket downstairs so I could pick Chloe up myself. Even if she didn’t care about her safety, I did, and there was no fucking way I was taking a chance with her being at a location that is completely open where, at any time, anyone could get to her.

  After I arrived at the bakery, Chloe ran into the back kitchen. At that point, I should have known she wasn’t going to make it easy. It took ten minutes to corner her. I have to say that, even if she is tiny, she is fast. It didn’t end with me catching her; no, I ended up carrying her kicking and screaming out of the bakery and into the back of my car. I was surprised the police didn’t show up after the scene she’d caused. If it hadn’t been for her injuries, I would have spanked her ass for the stunt she’d pulled.

  “Nolan!” she yells again.

  This time, I hear her stomping down the hall. I sit back against the couch and wait to see what happens.

  “I know you can hear me,” she huffs, coming to stand in front of me.

  “It’s hard not to hear you when you’re yelling, An
gel,” I mutter flatly, closing up my computer.

  “Don’t ‘Angel’ me,” she growls, throwing her hands up in the air. “Where are my clothes?”

  “In the closet,” I say slowly, wondering if she’s really lost it.

  “No, they’re not,” she huffs, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

  “Angel.”

  “Don’t freakin’ ‘Angel’ me! What? Did you take them so I wouldn’t have anything to wear or have a way to leave the house again unless I was willing to go naked?”

  “Though that does sound like a win-win, no.”

  “Well then, someone has stolen my clothes.” She throws up her hands again before lowering them to her hips.

  “Chloe, you must really want a spanking. You have been doing things all day to provoke me.” I rub between my eyes and look up at her only after she has been quiet for far too long.

  “I’m not lying. All of my clothes, everything of mine, is gone,” she whispers.

  Seeing the panicked look on her face has me standing and heading to the bedroom and into the closet. As soon as I hit the bedroom, a familiar smell hits my nose, but it’s gone before I can place it. I storm to the closet and see that all of her hangers are empty. I open and close drawers, coming up with nothing. Everything is gone. My angel has a lot of clothes, and there is nothing left—not even a stray pair of panties.

  I leave her standing in the closet and go to the bathroom where she keeps all her girly shit. It’s all gone as well. I search our home from top to bottom, but everything of hers is gone. There is not even a sign of her left. If she weren’t standing right in front of me, I would think she had disappeared. When I turn around, Chloe is standing in the middle of the kitchen with her hands covering her mouth. That’s when I realize what I must look like. I can tell that my face is red-hot with anger and my body has expanded. I have no idea who the fuck came into our home, but when I find out, they are going to fucking pay.